Mudaresa and the Bowab

[toosassy]

One cool thing is that I'm teaching our bowab (the doorman) the alphabet. He gets so excited when he sees me and he wants to practice. Plus he gets excited when he sees me come with more work for him. It's kind of hard because he's working at the same time and I don't have a lot of time with him, maybe only 15 minutes, but he's trying really hard and wants to learn. He told me in Arabic that he wants to go to America. I know that because I've heard enough Arabic and have quite a large vocabulary and I put that together. Plus Patrick speaks pretty good Arabic and he told me that Ramadan (the bowab) told him the same thing. Can you see my bowab going to America like Crocodile Dundee? At least Dundee spoke English! I can't even imagine the scene! I could see Ramadan pitching his cot outside the hotel and sleeping in the street. He sleeps in a cot near the entranceway to our apartment and every morning when I trot off to school he's curled up in the corner! I think it's because there's no air conditioner and his little cave like 'hole in the wall living area' must get really hot, especially at night. His story is that he lives on a farm with his parents, 5 brothers, and 4 sisters. What the...? And he wants me to visit a bunch of people who don't speak English? I managed to communicate with him enough to find out that he's go sheep and horses and sort of a camel. I'm not sure what the sort of a camel thing is about because I don't speak Arabic! He's 27 and has been working at the apartment for 5 years! Can you imagine being a doorman for 5 years?! He rides a bus 90 minutes each way to get here to work. I suppose it's not different in the states where people drive into work in the city. It's cute that he wants to learn English, but I can't trust him either because he's single, 27, wants to learn English, wants to go to America, and he asked me when I'm going back to the states (all of this in Arabic). No matter what language a person speaks all of that translates into "A walking greencard."

Helas (finished)